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Lie to Me Review: A Major Challenge for Lightman

Lie to Me provided Lightman with his biggest challenge ever this week in "Veronica," as he helped an Alzheimer's patient who believed she knew a truth that no one else did.

If you needed another reason not to text and drive (other than it being illegal in several states), Emily gave viewers on this week. While being hit by Emily was one of the most unusual character introductions I’ve seen on Lie to Me, having the talented Annette O’Toole as Veronica was a genius casting move.

This episode effectively had all its eggs in one basket, as the bulk of the story was carried by Veronica herself.

Fortunately, I couldn't imagine a better actress than O’Toole to play the early on-set Alzheimer's patient. She had such a broad range of emotions, expressions and reactions that she made it look effortless.

O’Toole’s performance allowed the rest of the cast to do what it does best, and the combination made for one of the best episodes of the season. While the installment was far from action-intensive, its focus on Veronica made for a welcome change of pace.

The only thing that came across as odd to me was Emily. She spent a lot of time standing around with a “deer in the headlights” look. I understood this when she first had the accident and was shaken up as a result. But it seemed like every time she was on screen after that, she was used as mere decoration.

On a more subtle, yet no less important, note, we had Eli coming into the office, beaten all to hell.

This was a direct result of Lightman telling Eli to get out of the office and into the field. The show also put to rest Eli’s “job hunting” with a quick comment that the economy was to blame for him not finding another job. I'll be honest, I liked this Eli, though it did make me wonder what happened to the therapy or counselor he was seeing back a few weeks ago, as the shift in personality, behavior and habit mixed with everything suddenly being okay with Lightman and Eli felt a bit weird.